ENGLAND STAR TOLD HIS EURO 2024 CAMPAIGN IS ‘OVER’ WITH THREE BIG NAMES TIPPED FOR AXE V SLOVAKIA
Chelsea midfielder Conor Gallagher has been told his timid performance for England against Slovenia in their final Group C game could prove his last outing at Euro 2024, while a former Liverpool midfielder has urged Gareth Southgate to consider axing three of the Three Lions’ biggest names ahead of their next game.
Southgate’s side topped Group C to earn a place in the last-16 of the competition where they will face Slovakia in Gelsenkirchen on Sunday and having been presented with what looks a relatively easy route to the final. Indeed, one of England, Switzerland, Italy, Netherlands, Romania, Austria, Turkey or Slovakia will be in the Euro 2024 final this year.
However, while England remain tournament favourites, such is their relatively uncomplicated passage, criticism of their performances so far means it is anything but certain they will go as deep as some suggest.
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Indeed, England have barely got themselves out of second gear, failing to gain control of, let alone put their opponents on the ropes and with none of their big-name players really showing anything like what they are capable of.
That criticism has reflected badly on Southgate, with former Sky Sports man, Richard Keys, calling for his sacking and suggesting a Premier League legend takes his place as England boss before Sunday’s Slovakia clash.
However, it’s not just the coach being called into question too and the lack of balance in the side, together with the lack of fluidity in both midfield and attack – the two areas seen as England’s strong points – have failed also been put under the spotlight.
One man who has featured in all three games so far is Gallagher.
Gallagher told he may not play again at Euro 2024
The Chelsea man came on as a substitute in both England’s opening games – a 1-0 win over Serbia and a 1-1 draw with Denmark, before he was given the nod to start the 0-0 draw against Slovenia.
However, Gallagher has been unable to impose himself on those games and it was only when England brought on Man Utd star Kobbie Mainoo to play alongside Declan Rice after the break that the Three Lions began to take any sort of control.
Now former Liverpool man Didi Hamann believes Gallagher won’t be seen in the tournament again for England, while he has also challenged Southgate to consider axing Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham and Phil Foden.
Hamann told RTE: “If you stick to these big players and they clearly don’t perform, I think there’s a case to drop them. I think there’s a case to drop Foden, Bellingham, and Kane.
“As a manager, if you want to get the respect of the whole squad, you have got to go after the big boys. If you go after the small boys, people won’t respect you.
“I think he’s at a stage now where the public have lost faith in him, the pundits have lost faith in him and England, and the team have lost faith in him as well.
“Some of the substitutions you can’t follow, you don’t know what he’s thinking.
“I think the biggest problem is; they’ve got Foden and Bellingham in the same team. It clearly doesn’t work, but he hasn’t got the bottle to drop either of them.
“I think he’s got to take one of them out, or move Bellingham a bit further back, but he doesn’t want to do this because for some reason he thinks Bellingham has to play in a position behind Kane.”
Shearer calls on Southgate to learn lessons from England substitutes
Hamann continued: “If he drops one of the two, that gives him a chance to bring Palmer in, bring Gordon in, bring Eze in, whoever. You’ve got so many players. Jarrod Bowen came on last week and set up the chance for Kane and he doesn’t do it.
“Gallagher isn’t or wasn’t a problem. He’s not the problem of that England team.
“It’s probably too late now. If you go after the lesser players, it doesn’t look good on the manager, and that’s what he’s done in the tournament.
“He’s taken Alexander-Arnold, he’s an easy target. Gallagher comes off at half-time. We probably don’t see Gallagher again for the rest of the tournament.”
BBC pundit Alan Shearer, meanwhile, feels Southgate needs to learn from the way his substitutes impacted the game against Slovenia, having called for them all to have a more promiment role going forwards.
“He [Southgate] brought Mainoo on at half-time, I thought the other subs were left far too late,” Shearer began.
“But all three had an effect on the game which is what they needed. I thought Mainoo was really good, he came into midfield and offered something totally different in midfield, winning the ball back, creating the option to receive the ball.
“This guy [Cole Palmer] came in on the right hand side and looked really, really good. He had a big impact, his movement and confidence with the ball was brilliant.
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“[Their combinations] we haven’t seen too much of that at all in the first two games, we certainty didn’t see it until Palmer came on.
“You can see that passing forward with someone receiving it in a forward position. Then [Anthony] Gordon came on with three minutes. The three linked up really well.
“We saw more on that left hand side in those three or four minutes when Gordon came on than we’ve seen in the two or three games we’ve had.
“Absolutely no doubt about it, Gareth has to make changes, particularly on either side and definitely one in the middle of the park.”
England have previously met Slovakia six times before, winning five and drawing the other. However, it is worth noting that their only meeting in a major finals came at Euro 2016 – a somewhat typical of now, 0-0 draw.
2024-06-28T08:34:59Z dg43tfdfdgfd